I must be an IDIOT!!!!!!!

Gary Watkins · Post by **Gary Watkins** » 7 Jun 2019 1:45 pm

I tried to order another course from Melissa at JEFFRAN COLLEGE. They took my money, and never sent the course. I put this one on my credit card, and I had protection, so they gave me my money back. I'm finished trying to deal with Melissa. Anyone else have this problem? I am looking for some C6 material for learning how to play.

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 7 Jun 2019 1:56 pm

I could be way off the mark as I've had no actual dealings with Melissa, but the impression I get from reading about members' experiences is that she took Jeffran on as it was clearly the right thing to do (or so it seemed) but has found she doesn't have the time or the expertise or the business sense to make it work.

There are parallels with the tale of Ron Lashley Jr. - not everyone is suited to inherit. But I will be glad if she can find a way to make at least a modest success of it.

Gary Watkins · Post by **Gary Watkins** » 8 Jun 2019 4:46 am

It's a shame. She has a product(s) that the steel guitar public wants to purchase, and all she is doing is opening up the doors for boot-leg products.

Russell Nugent · Post by **Russell Nugent** » 8 Jun 2019 2:43 pm

Iâ€™m surprised to hear this as Iâ€™ve ordered several courses from her in the past several months and they all arrived quickly. All purchases were made with PayPal though. They notify the seller when money is received. I wonder if that could be the issue.

Gary Watkins · Post by **Gary Watkins** » 11 Jun 2019 2:08 pm

Russell Nugent wrote:Iâ€™m surprised to hear this as Iâ€™ve ordered several courses from her in the past several months and they all arrived quickly. All purchases were made with PayPal though. They notify the seller when money is received. I wonder if that could be the issue.

I went through PAYAPL, but I paid with a credit card

Lynn Fargo · Post by **Lynn Fargo** » 12 Jun 2019 5:56 pm

I received part of my order today after a month. Hope the rest follows soon.

Just FYI, check whatever you order really well. A few times Iâ€™ve had pages missing. This time there was a completely different song and track on the CD than what I ordered and was PRINTED on the CD. That was a Woodshed Workshop course.

Sometimes Iâ€™ve been sent a replacement for the missing parts, sometimes Iâ€™ve been completely ignored but got copies of the missing pages from Forum members, thankfully.

Gary Spaeth · Post by **Gary Spaeth** » 13 Jun 2019 2:19 pm

get buddy's basic c6 course from jim p. great course for beginning and even up to advanced stuff. or go for paul franklin's basic c6 essentials.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... =321428521

Shawn Altman · Post by **Shawn Altman** » 17 Jun 2019 5:06 am

I'm having the same issue. I've sent numerous messages, with no reply. I got part of my order and received a previous order again. I sent her photos and offered to send the duplicates back. No response. Does anybody have a contact number for the business? I hate to do the whole Paypal issues thing.

Gary Watkins · Post by **Gary Watkins** » 17 Jun 2019 5:28 am

Shawn Altman wrote:I'm having the same issue. I've sent numerous messages, with no reply. I got part of my order and received a previous order again. I sent her photos and offered to send the duplicates back. No response. Does anybody have a contact number for the business? I hate to do the whole Paypal issues thing.

The number I have is, 615-879-4911, but she won't answer and I leave messages. On Sunday, 06-17-2019, she sent me an email and a tracking number that she was shipping my order. She must be taking some adult beverage!
Most people on the forum, I have found to be honest. Several years ago, I sold an MSA 12 string lap to a gentleman, and he was short about $750.00, and would send it the following month. I went ahead and sent the lap and sure enough, he sent me my money. His name is George Redmon, and I trust him 100% and I have never met him in person. Bill Ferguson, George Kimery, Mike Archer, Tony Dingus, Micky Adams, Ricky Thompson, David Nugent AND Damir Besic are others that I trust 100%. I wouldn't do that for everyone, but he had a good reputation here on the forum. You can't always go by the reputation! I bought a SHO-BUD several years ago, and sold my GFI. Before the Sho-Bud was shipped, he sent me an email and said that he had a friend that told him he was selling it for $200.00 under what he should get for it. I had already sold my GFI, so I was kinda "stuck" and I sent him the extra $200.00. I have never done business with him or his friend again, and they are here on the forum all the time. Just be careful!

Shawn Altman · Post by **Shawn Altman** » 17 Jun 2019 7:13 am

Thanks for the reply. This is a great product. I hate that nobody is taking this seriously. I have plans in the works to do some instructional videos my self. My mentor toured and played out of Nashville for years. He and I have discussed making some teaching material with videos and tab. It looks like now would be a good time to start.

Gary Watkins · Post by **Gary Watkins** » 17 Jun 2019 7:15 am

Shawn Altman wrote:Thanks for the reply. This is a great product. I hate that nobody is taking this seriously. I have plans in the works to do some instructional videos my self. My mentor toured and played out of Nashville for years. He and I have discussed making some teaching material with videos and tab. It looks like now would be a good time to start.

I've been searching for one of them "mentors" for years, but I can't find one. LOL! I guess that's why some people take advantage of me. Well, if they can live with it, I can live without it.

Gary Watkins · Post by **Gary Watkins** » 17 Jun 2019 1:17 pm

Shawn Altman wrote:Thanks for the reply. This is a great product. I hate that nobody is taking this seriously. I have plans in the works to do some instructional videos my self. My mentor toured and played out of Nashville for years. He and I have discussed making some teaching material with videos and tab. It looks like now would be a good time to start.

Please add me to your mailing list when you get started.

Shawn Altman · Post by **Shawn Altman** » 17 Jun 2019 1:29 pm

Yes sir, we have been discussing this for a little while. Customer service will be our number one priority. If we decide to do it. I seriously hate what is going on with Mr. Newman's material. My grandfather knew him years, had a lot of respect for him and his teaching. When I decided to get back into playing, I was looking forward to really digging into this material. The first couple orders went smooth, took about 2.5 weeks to ship. I got a message from them saying they were having some family heath issues. No big deal, I totally understand about that. Then this last order has been a nightmare, I get emails offering product discounts, but no response on stuff I purchased. I want to send back the duplicate stuff, but couldn't get a response on that, just verifying the address, we me paying the shipping. I don't want to go through paypal to get my money back, I'm sure they don't need that. Be nice to get my product though.

J R Rose · Post by **J R Rose** » 17 Jul 2019 11:58 am

I too had some doubts about Melissa but after a long time she did come thru. I always try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt so I ordered again for a different item. This time the tracks and the sheet music never came close to being right. And the titles listed were not what I was hearing. I sent a nice note telling her this and I am still waiting for a reply. That was months ago so I asked to be unsubscribed from the mailing list. Oh well, she will someday think about the many customer's out here that were being faithful too Jeff & Fran and she BLEW it. Should never took it on if she was not going to be able to put all her effort into it. J.R. Rose

bob drawbaugh · Post by **bob drawbaugh** » 18 Jul 2019 4:31 pm

I ordered some stuff for my Grandson for graduation. It took about 6 weeks to get the order. As Lynn said I checked every thing very carefully. One item came with a part one and part two dvd. I got two part one DVDs. I've sent several email and made several calls. But, to date not a word on the missing DVD. If e wants other Newman course, it will be purchased on the used market. There is really no excuse for this. It theft by deception if you ask me.

James Quillian · Post by **James Quillian** » 19 Jul 2019 4:41 pm

Steel guitar tab is polite system. It is probably the least ruthless business I have seen.

If this worked like any other business, some enterprising steel player would take a look at Newman's material and understand that there is no copyright protection for this stuff.

That person would make new versions of everything Newman did and start selling it.

I am not suggesting anyone do this. I have most of it anyway.
The point is that there is huge empathy for people who write and sell tab and out of goodwill people would like to see his family benefit from all the work he did.

If this was any other business, the gloves would come off and and others would take advantage of the situation.

I haven't experienced any of these problems but, I am telling you, this is really depressing, just hearing about it.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 19 Jul 2019 6:15 pm

At this point, I wish Melissa would license the business to a steel guitar professional with good business sense and the time and enthusiasm to keep the business going, if not growing. She could take back a royalty on every sale and not have to do any of the fulfillment. Jim Palenscar comes to mind...

John McClung · Post by **John McClung** » 20 Jul 2019 7:29 am

Great idea, Jimbo!

I am a very small dealer for just "Right Hand Alpha" (DVD course) which I sell to my students, and have had no problems with Melissas and my orders at all.

In fact, she donated a box of Jeff's last solo CD to Steel Resolve to pass on to our students, so her heart is in the right place.

Gary Watkins · Post by **Gary Watkins** » 22 Jul 2019 2:00 pm

John McClung wrote:Great idea, Jimbo!

I am a very small dealer for just "Right Hand Alpha" (DVD course) which I sell to my students, and have had no problems with Melissas and my orders at all.

In fact, she donated a box of Jeff's last solo CD to Steel Resolve to pass on to our students, so her heart is in the right place.

John,
I am so glad that you are getting your orders from Melissa. I am on disability and what little money I have is hard enough to come by. I just can't afford to have my money tied up and not get what I paid for or to be sent the wrong items. If anyone has the Jeff Newman courses for the C6 neck,
The C6th Workshop
C6th & Swinging Part One
C6th & Swinging Part Two

please contact me if they are for sale.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 25 Jul 2019 7:02 am

I haven't seen Jeff Newman's C6th material but I can heartily recommend Buddy Emmons' 'Basic C6'. The langauge is clear, the written examples are great fun to get you started and there's a wealth of stuff in the pages.

I also like the way he draws parallels with E9; that's helpful for so many who want to 'graduate'.

Eric Philippsen · Post by **Eric Philippsen** » 26 Jul 2019 8:34 am

So, what's the right thing to do? I mean, I have most of his Jeff's courses and about 45 of the 50-or-so Woodshed Workshops. Every once in a while someone will contact me and ask if he could get a copy of one of the out-of-print ones. I'd send it and get paid for the postage + some for my time.

I used to take a portion of what I got paid and send it to Fran. Now that she's gone, and reading about the problems people are having now, well, what to do?

Gary Watkins · Post by **Gary Watkins** » 26 Jul 2019 8:55 am

Eric Philippsen wrote:So, what's the right thing to do? I mean, I have most of his Jeff's courses and about 45 of the 50-or-so Woodshed Workshops. Every once in a while someone will contact me and ask if he could get a copy of one of the out-of-print ones. I'd send it and get paid for the postage + some for my time.

I used to take a portion of what I got paid and send it to Fran. Now that she's gone, and reading about the problems people are having now, well, what to do?

At least you aren't taking advantage of anyone. I'd just keep "helping" other players and not worry about it, but that's what I would do. If you have any C6 courses, PM me.

Lynn Fargo · Post by **Lynn Fargo** » 30 Jul 2019 11:07 am

Sadly, Iâ€™ve emailed Melissa a few times since June 12, letting her know of the missing and defective items from my order, and have had no response. I contacted PayPal and they have sent her a notice.
Iâ€™m really hoping to get my items and not just a refund.

Danny Roy · Post by **Danny Roy** » 30 Jul 2019 11:23 am

Man, I wish I had read this thread before ordering three hundred dollars worth of material yesterday!!! I read tons of great reviews on the material offered, the website was still active, so I went for it. Then, I noticed something needed to be changed in the shipping address. I tried calling, there was no answer. Emailed...nothing. I got really worried when there was no professional or personal greeting linked to their phone when I left a message, or anything that tells me itâ€™s not Home Depot or a junkieâ€™s number. Iâ€™ve spent the morning reading all of these and other customer service horror stories. Now Iâ€™m very worried. Iâ€™ve been calling, emailing and nothing. Has anyone received product or communication from her in the past week?

Gary Watkins · Post by **Gary Watkins** » 30 Jul 2019 12:53 pm

Danny Roy wrote:Man, I wish I had read this thread before ordering three hundred dollars worth of material yesterday!!! I read tons of great reviews on the material offered, the website was still active, so I went for it. Then, I noticed something needed to be changed in the shipping address. I tried calling, there was no answer. Emailed...nothing. I got really worried when there was no professional or personal greeting linked to their phone when I left a message, or anything that tells me itâ€™s not Home Depot or a junkieâ€™s number. Iâ€™ve spent the morning reading all of these and other customer service horror stories. Now Iâ€™m very worried. Iâ€™ve been calling, emailing and nothing. Has anyone received product or communication from her in the past week?

Danny,
The material is GREAT, if you can get it! If you paid by PAYPAL, you should be able to get your money back. It may take a few weeks, but you should be able to get it back.